THE HAUNTED KINGDOM 3 by CHARLES E.J. MOULTON (ereader that reads to you .txt) 📕

sighed and stepped off the stallion, lead him to a tree and tied him there. He sat down on a stone and looked at the cave on the other side. He shook his head and began rummaging in the saddlebag that he had taken off the horse.
“A bible. An apple. A blanket. Adnicul’s metal flask of Margetanian Vodka. An almost full bottle of water from the well in the cave.” He took out the water and the apple. “An empty soul. Darn it. An empty soul.”
He felt the wind caress his cheek. It was a sweet wind. Fragrant. It smelled like roses.
Like a sweet summer in June drinking apple mead in the garden.
“Home. Will I ever see you again?”
He did not know how long he sat there, but he felt the presence of angels as he fell asleep by that stone and dreamt odd things.
He dreamt he was back home and everyone hated him. They said he had woken up to find he wanted to stop fighting to solve his dreams.
Alex woke up around midnight and found Mercutio simply standing there patiently waiting.
The king cared not, he spoke not, he wanted not to live, Alex drank the rest of the water and just took his blanket and cuddled up under it, just waited for the dawn, hungry and not caring about that fact, hoping that some soul would come and have mercy on him. He was waiting for something. Waiting to die. Waiting to live. Waiting to hope.
Alexander fell asleep and dreamt of home.
He woke up around dawn, saw no one, Mercutio still there.
Alex was freezing and starving and he had no idea why he did not care about that.
He sat up on the stone again and realized his back was stiff.
He stood up and stretched.
There was that smell again.
A rose? The wind of roses?
What was that?
He turned around.
There he saw … he gasped. There was a person there, standing patiently waiting for him to turn around. The person was smiling.
Yes, he knew him very well.
“How long have you been standing there?”
The soul smiled. “Since yesterday. I just waited for you to turn around. I even sent you a fragrant smell that would make you turn, but you fell asleep.”
Alex smiled again, realizing it was the first time he smiled since Adnicul disappeared. “I am so happy to see you. I have lost hope.” Alex looked down. “Raphael, I have lost all hope.”
Raphael came and sat down on a stone next to him, arranged his cloak so that it would not get dirty and took off the hood off his head. “Sit down!” He obeyed. Raphael took out an apple from his cloak pocket and gave it to him. “Have an apple. You haven’t eaten in a day, you foolish person!”
Alex chuckled and took the apple.
Raphael took another apple and began munching on his own.
Alexander began eating the apple and felt that the inner hope began surging up again. It was a filling apple. Like an entire meal including drink.
Raphael indicated at Mercutio standing by the tree.
There were elves there, they were feeding the stallion and talking with him.
Alex smiled and put his hand on Raphael’s leg.
The angel smiled and took another bite of his apple, but kept on looking at the cave.
“Tell me, your majesty,” he said, “how is it that where you have most reason to hope you lose everything that hope is for you?” Raphael for the first time looked right in to Alexander’s soul. “Do you enjoy being depressed?”
Alex shook his head, his mouth full of apple. “I have lost Adnicul.”
”You used to hate him.”
”I know.”
“Then why do you spend your entire night here when there is work to do?”
Alexander swallowed and dried off his mouth.
“My guide was kidnapped. I have grown tired of fighting.”
”You were on the road for a year without a guide. Do you need a guide to find to the cave?”
He shook his head. “I suppose not, but aren’t you the one who said care about your friends?”
”Yes, care. Find Adnicul. But Adnicul will escape Rumar.”
”He encaged him earlier to eat him. That is no good sign.”
“Rumar just eats animals. He has never touched human flesh. The thing that captured Adnicul years ago was not a Rumar. He carved himself out of the belly of another beast that does eat humans. Adnicul is just as confused as you. Rumar is toying with you.”
”What beast captured Adnicul years ago?”
”A Cally Beast. But never mind that. The point is that Rumar just captures humans and then lets them go. Adnicul was abducted, yes. But you could not find him, so leave and search for the cave in Yambalah, not this one that you left behind. You might be surprised what you find.”
“Is he there?”
“No. He will be held somewhere where you can not be for a bit, but your work lies elsewhere.” Raphael put his right hand on Alexander’s left leg. “Leave and then one day your friend will appear. You need to be searching for Lucinda. You know that this is what is bothering you? Not the fighting, you were a born fighter. But you only prolong this ride so long because you are afraid of the destination.” Raphael pointed at Alexander’s heart with his long finger and looked at him with his blue eyes. “You have the power in your heart to make this quick. Find it in your heart to get it over with. The way home is forward, not back. Always move forward, Alex. Don’t move back. Don’t move back. Even standing still is better than moving back.”
Alexander nodded. “Why have I lost hope?”
”Let me counter that by posing another question: what is your greatest fear?”
The king smiled, it was a very old feeling hidden under layers of fears. “That I will fail.”
“You are better prepared than anyone I know. You will not fail.” Raphael shook his head. “You are the royal family, for crying out loud. You are built to win. You will win. There is no question in your heart, correct?”
Alex grinned. “Not for an instance.”
”So why does your mind doubt?”
”Because my mind sees all the possibilities and plays around with all of that back and forth. I fix on the bad things, because I want no surprises.”
Raphael finished his apple, bent down and dug a small hole. He dropped the apple core into it and threw the dirt on it. He reached up with his hand. “Are you finished with your apple?” Alexander nodded. “Give it to me.” Raphael dug another hole and dropped the second apple into it and covered it with dirt. Raphael stood up and just looked at the earth. Soon enough two small flowers started blossoming out from the ground.
Alex watched this was surprise. “How did you do that?”
Raphael eyed heavenward. “Well, you see, when I was in magic school …” He slapped Alex lightly and jokingly on the shoulder. “Never ask an angel something like that.” Both of them started laughing. “The point is that you are afraid of surprises, but why?”
Alex shrugged.
Raphael pointed to the ground. “That was a surprise, was it not?”
Alex nodded. “You travel the spiral cycle of good upward and there won’t be so many bad surprises, but never challenge that cycle.”
”Spiral cycle? I don’t understand.”
The angel closed his eyes. “Think of it as a long winding staircase going up and down. The good things are on the top floor, the bad things on the bottom floor of that house. You do something good and it generates another good thing and you keep on climbing. Do something bad and it will make you descend. Now on the way up there might be challenges, sure. But they are there to be challenged. In fact, they are made to be overcome.” The archangel searched Alexander’s heart and saw that he understood. “When I say spiral cycle, I mean travel the staircase up and not down and when you meet a challenge face it. In this case the challenge is not to go away from your present course because your guide was abducted.”
”But if you had not told me, I would’ve thought for myself that he would be eaten?”
”Yes, but your heart knew that Rumar is not a human eater. That Adni was out of danger.”
”How?”
”It was your mind that played tricks on you. Told you what this world tells you. You were on your way out and onward when you gave up.”
Alexander nodded. He had been tricked by his own mind.
“Sometimes the trick is not to be lead astray. The evil powers are masters at that sort of thing. Entire lives are wasted because people are lead astray. They follow a fata morgana for the entire length of their lives that just disappears when the face the horizon and then it is too late. No matter what you have done before it is the challenge not to be lead astray that will save you in the end.”
“Is lust a part of this?”
Raphael sighed. “Now, we could be holding this discussion forever. Lust is a temptation that is so strong that it almost always is a force of its own that makes it dangerous for you,” Raphael said and pointed at Alexander’s chest with his finger so hard that he was forced to lean back, “so dangerous that you will forget duty, work, love, life, the Lord, and everything else because it is so fun to go after it. If you use that lust to portray art or write a poem or even rule a country, you will so so much good that I think you have no idea what you are doing or how well you are using it. Between a couple who mean earnestly to stay for entire life together, lust is a productive thing. But it such a perilous thing, because so many humans forget everything else in its shadow.” Raphael smiled bitterly. “Lucifer’s lust was the lust for having everything. Imagine it as a person who tries to carry many artefacts in his arms. Eventually, when he wants to hold the entire room in his arms, he will drop everything. That is why Lucinda will loose. She wants to hold the entire room of things in her hands. She cannot. She will eventually drop something and then it will all fall apart, because she then can’t keep her promise of holding on to everything.”
”The next question probably is that she won’t know what to do with it all.”
”Of course, Alex” Raphael whispered, humorously and leaned over. “Less is more, right?”
Alex nodded.
“What is she going to with that power, all those things? It seems like a nice idea, but when she is queen of the world … what then? Well, she has reached all of everything, there is nothing more to accomplish. Yes, then what?”
Alex chuckled. “Not having everything is wind in your sails.”
“A painting needs shadows and light spots. No picture can be all white or black. It loses its purpose. That is what rainbows are for.”
Raphael tried to find Alex inside his eyes again.
”You see why there is hope?”
Alex nodded.
“Good.”
Alexander leaned over and embraced the angel. There was so much warmth there.
“I was never saying, by the way, that saving Adnicul was a bad idea. He should be saved. But it never occurred to you that he might have all things in control.”